Have you ever done it? Gone up as high as it can go? (NON turbine aircraft).
Not quite, but close a few times.
I had the DA40 up to 14,000 (certified ceiling is 16,300) to cross Lake Michigan. I had room to get there due to where I was departing from and so I just set the autopilot to 500 fpm. I reached the book sea level Vy just as I was getting to 14,000, but I was solo so climb performance was much better than if I'd been at gross.
I had the C182 up to 17,500 once (18,000 service ceiling IIRC), because I was on a long leg and there were tailwinds and I had portable O2 on board and I was flying across Nebraska so why not. Again, I was solo so performance was OK.
I've had the Mooney up to FL190. I'll hit 500 fpm around 15,000 feet. I figure it takes 10 minutes to climb to 10,000 feet, another 10 minutes to climb to 15,000 feet, and another 20 minutes to climb to FL200 most likely. The Mooney did better that close to its ceiling than the 182.
Reason I'm asking is I see some pretty ridiculous numbers cited for turbo'd aircraft on their specs, where I can't imagine anyone
actually taking it up that high. For instance, a Turbo Stationair that Cessna advertises as having a
service ceiling of FL260. I see a 210 Turbo with a ceiling listed at FL270. I see a couple Mooneys with similar FL250-ish levels. I'm not doubting that they
can get there, but is it even remotely practical to climb that high?
Depends on the length of your leg.
I've done the math for turbo vs N/A in the Mooney, and because the climb and descent down in the more normal altitudes is about 8 miles per 1000 feet (2 up, 6 down) and the fuel burn looks best when at least half the flight is in cruise, that means I need to be going 160nm minimum to make climbing to 10,000 feet worthwhile.
If I had a turbo with a critical altitude at or above 20,000, that means I'd need to be going 320nm minimum on that leg to make the climb to 20 worthwhile, or 400nm+ for the climb to 25,000.
Even when going those distances, there's plenty of reasons NOT to go to those altitudes:
* I'm not gonna make the whole family suck on O2, so I'd probably only go that high solo if I had a blower.
* Cannulas are generally not advisable above 18,000 and full masks introduce their own issues - They usually have craptastic microphones, for example.
* Headwinds may make a lower altitude more favorable.
* Even tailwinds are often lower at higher altitudes after a point. The highest winds are often in the teens.
From just poking around on ForeFlight and watching traffic (a favorite pastime of mine) I don't think I see planes like this usually get above low/mid teens. That's not exactly a scientific study but it makes me wonder if anyone actually does take it up that high?
Sometimes.
If you have ForeFlight Performance (and you're a nerd like me), you can set up an aircraft profile for a turbocharged aircraft that interests you, and then put together some different flights you might want to take in such an aircraft, and use the Altitude Advisor to see the time and fuel burn of all the various cruising altitude choices.
Mooneys can go up to FL 350 doing 600 knots while making 5 gallons an hour.
If you slow 'em down a little, they'll actually start putting fuel back in the tank.
Yup. Here's a good article about it that explains it better than I can:
https://www.aviationpros.com/home/article/10388584/magnetos-under-pressure
Edit:
Oh, and one more thing: The ceiling listed for a plane may or may not actually be its service ceiling. Based on what I'm seeing in the Mooney Bravo POH, I suspect it could actually go a fair bit higher than FL250.
However, there are more and more regulatory requirements the higher and higher you certify a plane for, so sometimes there will be a maximum ceiling that is artificially limited to avoid those requirements. For example, the Turbo Twin Comanche has a ceiling of 30,000 feet, but if they certified it today I would expect they'd limit it to 28 just because of RVSM above that.
in all seriousness, the Comanche has those long slender sexy laminar flew wings.
